Cascale Highlights How the Higg Index Enhances Standardization in Sustainability Reporting

Jeremy Lardeau, senior vice president of the Higg Index at Cascale, recently joined industry leaders at The Economist’s Sustainability Week Asia. Over 900 business leaders came together in Bangkok to explore how the region’s rapid economic growth, substantial renewable investments, and diverse ecosystems provide opportunities to lead on decarbonization.

Lardeau joined the “Troubling taxonomies: how to standardize sustainability reporting” panel, moderated by Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist. Participants also included Ornsaran Pomme Manuamorn, senior financial sector specialist at World Bank, and Susanna Hasenoehrl, head of sustainable solutions business, Asia-Pacific and Japan at SAP.

While acknowledging the complexity of the supply chains, Lardeau explained the benefits of standardized sustainability reporting and the use of a common framework. He highlighted reporting challenges including limited resources, duplicative work, contradicting information, and a lack of comparable data. Lardeau also noted that governments have an important role to play in promoting standardized environmental reporting systems through sensible regulation.

Lardeau shared how Cascale’s Higg Index suite of tools unites the industry on a common framework, bringing together 40,000 users – including over 300 Cascale members – across the value chain. He also noted that the Higg Index facility tools, specifically the Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) and the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM), can contribute facility-level assessments to broader reporting needs. And Lardeau highlighted how supply chain management platforms can help companies comply with disclosures required by legislation.

Emphasizing the importance of collaboration to scale up strategic partnerships, Lardeau noted that Cascale’s new Industry Decarbonization Roadmap (IDR), developed in partnership with Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) outlines key strategies to accelerate collective action for supply chain decarbonization.

Attendees were invited to register for the Cascale Forum, which will take place May 14-15 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The two-day event will bring manufacturers, suppliers, brands, retailers, and key industry stakeholders together to drive actionable solutions on decarbonization, foundational environmental performance, responsible purchasing practices, and more.